Tigers' bats cooled in loss to Mariners in series finale

Seattle — This is why AJ Hinch doesn’t put a lot of stock in momentum.

The Tigers came into the series finale at T-Mobile Park Sunday riding two impressive victories against the Mariners. If ever a team had some momentum, right?

Seattle starter Bryce Miller didn’t get the memo. In his first start since June 30 (blister issue), he stonewalled the Tigers for five innings and set the tone for the Mariners' 2-0 win.

BOX SCORE: Mariners 2, Tigers 0

If Miller slowed the Tigers’ roll, the Mariners’ bullpen stopped it completely. Relievers Matt Brash, Justin Topa and Andres Munoz set down nine straight hitters, three each.  

"This pitching staff, if you give them the lead and then they can set their bullpen up how the want, they're tough," Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. " ... I said before the game we needed to get to (Miller), because their best guys were fresh and then we saw their bullpen 6, 7, 8 (innings).

"It's a low-scoring game, you need as many opportunities as you can get. We won the series, which is the silver lining, but it was a missed opportunity today."

Kerry Carpenter ended a run of 12 straight outs with a one-out single off closer Paul Sewald. But Sewald struck out Matt Vierling and Javier Báez to end the game. It was the 12th time this season the Tigers have been shut out.

"They came out with a lot of energy," Hinch said. "I know they were probably frustrated how the first part of the series went."

The margin for error was small for Tigers rookie right-hander Reese Olson and he didn't make many.

In the first inning, after getting a clutch double-play ball from Teoscar Hernandez, he hung a slider to left-handed hitting Jarred Kelenic. He hit a line drive off the wall in left field, scoring J.P. Crawford and giving the Mariners their first lead of the series.

"I wasn't expecting Kelenic to hit that first-pitch slider," Olson said. "I was just trying to back-door it a little bit. It wasn't a terrible pitch but he put a good swing on it."

With two outs in the fourth inning, Olson fell behind in the count 3-1 to Cal Raleigh. Olson didn’t give in. He threw a meaty, 93-mph fastball and Raleigh crushed his 12th home run of the season.

"I fell behind and missed too big," Olson said. "I had to throw a heater in the zone."

He was asked, with two outs and nobody on and a right-handed hitter due up next, if he regretted the challenge fastball. He did not.

"I'm not going to walk a guy," he said. "That's not really anything I've ever done before. I just keep attacking like I do every at-bat."

That was all the damage he allowed. He struck out five with no walks in his 5.1 innings. The one to Kelenic notwithstanding, Olson’s slider was sharp. He got nine swinging strikes on 16 swings. He threw that and a two-seam fastball off a 95-mph four-seam fastball that got five whiffs on 14 swings.

"They came out very, very aggressive, swinging first pitch virtually every at-bat," Hinch said. "They ambushed him in the first inning and got a couple of hits. Kelenic had the big two-out hit. He almost escaped that trouble right out of the chute, but it looked like (Olson) made some adjustments, started mixing up his pitches a little bit better."

But the Tigers, who hit five home runs in the first two games, couldn't get started offensively.

"Today was frustrating," Vierling said. "I thought we hit the ball well today, just didn't get anything to drop. Kind of frustrating but I really like where we're at."

Back to 10 games under .500 (41-51), the Tigers open a four-game series against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium Monday.

chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @cmccosky